Southpaw stars: Martinez, Lopez, were weekend highlights

The big hit of a crowded boxing Saturday night on Oct. 4 might have been Sergio Martinez, who toyed with Alex Bunema on Boxing After Dark, but Juan Manuel Lopez was dynamic when blowing away Cesar Figueroa in 47 seconds on the Top Rank PPV show from Puerto Rico.

What was I thinking when I wrote that Bunema would be competitive against Martinez in the 154-pound title bout? It wasn’t even a contest.

I have been impressed with Martinez’s skills for some time but Bunema had looked like a new fighter when knocking out Roman Karmazin in January. It just goes to show that one outstanding performance doesn’t mean a fighter has reinvented himself. What happened on Saturday night was what should have happened when Bunema fought Karmazin.

The fighter from the Congo, but now living in Memphis, looked dismayed and disheartened as early as the opening round as Martinez treated him like a sparring partner. It was target practice for the speedy Spaniard, who looked stronger and punched harder than in any of his past performances that I had seen. Even the right jabs from his southpaw stance seemed to be hurting Bunema, who was made to look as if he was fighting in slow motion.

This was a super showing from Martinez, who is highly entertaining to watch with his hands down, flashy style.

Over in Puerto Rico, 122-pound champ Lopez did what I like to see a favourite do — take care of business. He wasn’t expected to need too many rounds to dispose of Mexican veteran Cesar Figueroa, but a two-punch blowout inside a minute was a spectacular showing. Lopez’s left hand through the middle set Figueroa up for the right hook from the Puerto Rican’s southpaw style.

Talking about right hooks, switch-hitting veteran Jon Thaxton landed a beauty to flatten Spaniard Juan Carlos Diaz Melero in their European lightweight title fight in Norwich.

This ended up as close to an even-money fight at the sports books, with few players taking a plunge judging by the lack of line movements.

“Graham’s Odds” had Thaxton a -230 favourite but I went for the upset, thinking that the 34-year-old had been looking a bit ringworn in his last couple of fights. Instead he looked sharper than he has in years.

This fight was shown on a same-day delayed basis on Viewer's Choice in Canada and a Vancouver boxing buddy rushed me the tape. I was able to watch it without knowing the result. British fighter-pundits Carl Froch and Barry McGuigan differed on who would win. Froch picked Diaz Melero in the pre-fight scene-setter while McGuigan went for Thaxton, but both seemed unsure. As it turned out the fight was one-way traffic, as they say in the U.K. Thaxton outsmarted, outmanoeuvred and outclassed a stiff-looking Diaz Melero, who moved awkwardly with a brace on his left knee.

In round two I wrote “fight over” in my notebook — but I didn’t expect Thaxton to knock Diaz spark out with the right hook in the very next round. As Froch said in his post-fight comments, Thaxton looked younger than he has in years.

Back to Boxing After Dark, and Alfredo Angulo was methodical and impressive in beating up a game Andrey Tsurkan, who of course should have been rescued at least two rounds before the belated stoppage after two minutes, 27 seconds of the 10th and last round of a junior middle mismatch.

HBO’s Jim Lampley was rightly concerned if overly dramatic in his comments as Tsurkan took punishment for round after round.

The trouble here is that Tsurkan was throwing back just enough punches to give the appearance of keeping in the fight. I think that many referees might have saved him from himself around about the seventh round, because while Tsurkan was showing a willingness to keep fighting he was taking hard shots in every round and the accumulated effect was slowly wearing him down.

When the doctor checked on Tsurkan at the end of the eighth round it was a perfect moment for the fight to be stopped. Tsurkan was far behind on points and he was going to be subjected to a further pounding in the two rounds that remained and most likely get stopped anyway.

The punches that Tsurkan was allowed to take in rounds nine and 10 seemed unnecessary, and of course he still left the arena with a TKO loss on his record.

There are various opinions on when and why a fight should be stopped. When I’m uncomfortable watching a fighter take punches is when I would like to see him pulled out. I was feeling uncomfortable about Tsurkan several rounds before the finish.